I need some help getting Monkey to eat his salad/bites. He will eat a little of his bearded dragon bites, won't hardly touch fresh salad, but will eat Dubia's any time.... he is going on 10 months as far as I'm guessing....how do I entice him to eat his fresh veggies? They just go to waste as it is now....

I just acquired a 6-7 year old beardie who was fed ONLY worms by her previous owner (she's obese). I tried everything and then finally bell peppers and cilatro worked, if I hold it on tweezers in front of her face. I didn't think she was touching her salads at all without me feeding them to her but when I got home today the black berries and stuff she doesn't like as much were all out of the bowl and the bell peppers and cilantro had been picked out, I find that if I give her one piece of cilantro she'll eat her collard greens (again if they're held in front of her face.) Someone I know suggested cilantro and bell peppers and it worked beautifully to get her to eat her veggies. It's a pain that she wont eat them on her own but it's a relief that with coaxing Astoria will eat the things she's meant to. Try lots of different veggies on the list, there's got to be one he likes?

dananae07 wrote:I need some help getting Monkey to eat his salad/bites. He will eat a little of his bearded dragon bites, won't hardly touch fresh salad, but will eat Dubia's any time.... he is going on 10 months as far as I'm guessing....how do I entice him to eat his fresh veggies? They just go to waste as it is now....

If he's 10 months old, don't worry if he's turning his nose up at his salads, he needs his live insect protein much more than his greens and veg at his age. I was still giving my gang 2 meals of insects each day at his age. I cut back to 1 insect meal per day at 1 yr.

I'd be ditching the "bites" , they are rubbish.

Just keep offering the fresh salad and veg each day , what salad / veg he leaves can be used to feed / gutload your roaches .

Just keep offering what he likes but don't worry if doesn't eat much. Mine hardly touches salad and only eats rocket every now and then or kale every few weeks. We still offer rocket everyday though. He gets a bit of Apple or melon once a week as a treat as he likes them.

If the feeders are given good quality veg and well gut loaded he will get most of the nutrients he needs from those and the calcium/vitamin routine.

He still gets roaches twice a day, they are gutloaded and dusted every other day with calcium and reptivite. Guess I won't worry much on the salad yet, maybe try the peppers and cilantro one of these days

A good little trick is to not give them crickets/bugs earlier in the day, which technically means they have to eat the salad. Try different food and all to see what your beardie likes best. You can also try hand feeding some veggies so they get used to the idea that it is food. I had a similar problem with my dragon, I would normally put fruit or brightly colored vegetables/fruits to attract him to eat it, and also not feed him to earlier. After a while he ate his salad, however he still is a little fussy with leafy veggies but he will eat them.